Freedom of choice
by Soren Yagami
Summary: The Sekirei bond has always been something sacred to the species, so what happens when someone slowly learns it might not be what she wants. Make a blond knock some sense into her of course.
1. Chapter 1

**As I mentioned to a reviewer of my main fic the other day, this idea wouldn't let me alone so I wrote this to be able to concentrate on other stuff properly.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Sekirei, nothing new here people.**

* * *

><p>This place was really weird.<p>

Uzumaki Naruto was unable to understand how this place could feel so lifeless and people still live without a care. Roaming through the streets of the city now known as Shinto Teito, according to some of the passerby he had talked with, he was baffled at how similar it was in some ways to what he had seen and explored of both Amegakure no Sato and Yuki no Kuni in the past. Yet, it seemed to be even more artificial and… urbanized?

'_Stupid Sharingan and its reality breaking properties!'_ the blond was still pissed that the fabled doujutsu was so nuts and the reason he was stranded on an unknown world. A week earlier he had been fighting with all his might the 4th Shinobi War, he thought his use of Tailed Beast Chakra Mode was brilliant! After all, using it to power all his friends' moves should help the numbers advantage against the likes of Uchiha Madara, right?

Sadly, he had made a big mistake, even if no one could have guessed such thing was possible. After Kakashi's failure in using Kamui to drag the Gedō Mazō to another dimension he just figured they needed to ramp up its power to make it work. So Naruto decided to help by sharing his unified chakra with both Kakashi and a recently reformed and dying Uchiha Obito to have the best chance to make it work with both Kamui eyes.

To make it things short, Sharingan and Tailed Beasts' chakra never got along. Those two being the only know users of Kamui, it was supposed to stop Madara from being able to seal the Tailed Beasts and from there the undead Kages should be able to figure out a way to win. They were all smart and legendary types after all. What they got was an out of control black hole vortex that absorbed everything in sight. And from there Naruto appeared in this place, with no Kurama at his side, nor any of his other friends and allies. He just hoped everyone was safe back home.

'_At least there's ramen, so this world can't be all bad…'_ after trying summoning without success and knowing he was no master of any space/time technique, he figured he had only one option. Adapt and endure, just as Jiraiya taught him years ago. Good thing he had _acquired_ some clothes that blended well with this place, even if they needed more orange. Currently wearing black pants, an orange shirt and a black jacket, he figured he blended as a normal teenager from this city.

Reaching an intersection, he started to glance at all the corners in the adjacent streets before finding what he was looking for.

He needed to figure out why this girl had chakra unlike anyone else he had met so far. He just wished one of his most recent and only friends here would stop teasing him so much over supposedly crushing on a stranger he stalked on the streets. It was not his fault he could sense chakra from this weirdly dressed girl! Also, it was just yesterday he first noticed her! Or that the way she seemed to try to catch the attention of people: asking if they were an Ashikabi to only be ignored reminded him of his childhood for some reason.

So doing his best to hide all his chakra and any presence he could emit, he kept watching.

* * *

><p>For Kaho, Sekirei no. 87, the days were going always so slowly.<p>

Ever since separating from her sister in all but blood to find her Ashikabi and fulfill their promise, most of her days were spent in the streets where she first felt the flare of her Ashikabi's instinctual call. While she could not feel him or her nearby, she figured asking around would not hurt at all. Naïve to the ways of the world, she had started by asking any passerby if they were an Ashikabi, hoping that even if they were not her chosen one, they would at least try to help her in her search.

So far, she had gotten nothing but indifference and avoidance from all. It hurt more than she thought it would. _'Not even being acknowledged at all, it's as if they try to ignore I exist to avoid being bothered…'_ for Kaho, such a concept was hard to understand, mainly because as a Sekirei, she had grown to be fond of all her fellow brothers and sisters and her adjuster being kind, if not a sadist with anyone that annoyed her.

"Ah… " Suddenly, she felt her heart start beating fast and her cheeks gain a healthy blush. _'Ah... is this?!'_ frantically glancing everywhere, she couldn't contain her excitement when her senses led her to a slightly handsome man, and the world stopped mattering.

"Found you… I finally found you…!" seeing him frozen in his spot, she slowly approached until she was face to face with him. Seeing him closer, she was happy he seemed to be blushing too, "My Ashikabi…! Make me your Sekirei… please." Grasping his hands on her own, she could only inch closer and bask in his warmth, already feeling the beginning of the bond she desired form.

Minutes later, a lone Kaho could only feel pain in her heart at how her Ashikabi had ran away from her, falling down to her knees.

'_Why…'_ before she could further wallow in sadness, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looking up she saw a slightly tanned man, with golden blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks and a kind smile.

"Need any help?"

* * *

><p><strong>Play Keigo Hoashi - Kainé (Piano Collections NieR Gestalt &amp; Replicant)<strong>

"Need any help?" waiting for her to react, Naruto inspected the girl closer. Wearing a red hakama long skirt tied with a red bow on her waist, a white haori and her long, silky black hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon, she would be the traditional image of a shrine maiden if it wasn't for the brown boots and the long black clothed object that was currently on the ground.

"I-I'm fine… gomen." Taking the offered hand, Kaho slowly regained her balance and took a couple of deep breaths, while Naruto grabbed the object that was completely wrapped in black, "Hm, this feel heavy, more than I expected." Throwing it to the air with one hand, he missed the surprise and slight worry on the young woman's eyes before she grabbed it midair and fixed it into her back.

"That was dangerous sir!"

"Mah mah… and sir? That's for old people, name's Naruto." Quickly dispelling her worry with a wave of his hand, he just took her hand and led her to a nearby café, easily leading her in her confusion to a seat after passing the entry and ordering some snacks and tea.

"So, might as well tell me what's the problem miss?" tilting his head, he just waited calmly seeing the woman still seem to be utterly confused about everything.

Finally regaining her wits, she could only smile, "It's nice to meet you Naruto-san, my name is Kaho." Doing a small bow with her head, she missed the 'tsk' from the blond at hearing the -san suffix on his name, "can I ask why you did all of this, for a stranger?" the last few days had really shaken Kaho's faith in the goodness of people, even more after her Ashikabi's reaction.

"Do I need a reason? You looked like you needed a friend, simple as that." Watching his eyes blink in utter confusion, Kaho decided maybe she had been just a bit unlucky so far.

Hours later, Kaho exited the little and homely café to head back to her hotel, feeling tired but happy from the day's ordeals. Naruto-san had been so nice listening to her story, somehow not looking surprised at the whole Sekirei and Ashikabi deal as she had expected. Even more, he had rapidly cheered her up telling her that to give up from just one try was silly, assuring her that if the young man she had felt herself reacting to was her chosen one, she needed to fight for it.

Feeling more confident, Kaho decided that even if she was not immediately accepted by her Ashikabi, meeting him and Naruto-san made the day good in her opinion.

* * *

><p>Later on, Naruto was entering one of the parks on the north of Shinto Teito, enjoying the feel of nature surrounding him after so many hours of the city. He had completely forgotten to ask Kaho about her chakra, in favor of just making the girl happy after her encounter with her chosen one. He figured he could always ask her later, <em>'Maybe it has to do with Kaho-chan being one of these Sekirei?'<em>

Reaching the tree he had used to sleep so far during his stay on the city, he saw the visage of one of his friends, her smile teasing, as if she knew something he didn't. Waving at her with a smile, he approached her and the tree.

"Hey!"

"Flirt." Winking at the now confused blond, she just left towards her own home, a visible sway on her hips as she walked away.

He just stared at her without blinking and shrugged when she was out of sight, jumping toward the comfiest branch on the tree, slowly getting comfy enough to take a nap, "Baka ero-sennin…" after all, it was not his fault he had found her swaying delicious, it was the Jiraiya at work.

* * *

><p>The next day, Oosumi Orihiko walked to the same intersection where he had met that shrine maiden woman . The moment he got close enough, he felt the need to hide in an alleyway and was surprised to see the woman, who seemed to sense he was nearby as she was glancing at where he had been moments ago, <em>'Does she have any relation to MBI? Was she also the reason for that call?'<em> deciding this was more trouble that it could be worth from what he had gleaned MBI could do, he left.

As if marking his departure, raindrops started to fall and soon enough, Kaho was left alone on the intersection, drenched but just looking at the sky expectantly, _'Maybe I missed him due him rushing to avoid the rain?'_ so deep into her thoughts she was, she didn't notice someone approaching until she felt something over her frame stopping the rain, "Geez Kaho-chan, you look like a wife waiting for her husband to come back from war, unmoving and absolutely unshakeable."

Now completely embarrassed and blushing, Kaho could only pout at her blond friend, huffing as he seemed to smile teasingly and wink, "Mou, Naruto-san…"

"There there, yosh!" patting her on the head which was covered by his orange windbreaker jacket's hoodie, Naruto just hugged her with one arm, leading her to the homely little café of the other day, completely missing her blush increase at how familiar and affectionate he was with her.

"Excuse me, do you think you have any clothes to spare from my friend? I was a total baka and left her on the rain before coming here…" the owner of the café could only smile warmly at the blond's pleading gaze as both potential costumers stayed at the entrance to avoid getting the floor wet.

"Hm, I think my daughter's clothes might fit her, but this will cost you a bit you know?" winking mischievously at the chance to make a little extra money, the owner just led Kaho to a separate room to help while the blond went to the same table they used the other day and ordered for both to one of the waitresses. Good thing he had decided to do a _friendly_ visit to a local bank the other day from the gleam he saw in the owner's eyes.

* * *

><p>Days later, Orihiko wandered to the same intersection conflicted, he had seen the girl each day looking for him, and yet he lacked the courage to approach her and finally resolve this whole situation, carrying a bag full of soda cans he bought for the coming weekend, he was surprised the shrine maiden was not around.<p>

Hearing rustling and grunts on a nearby alleyway, he couldn't help but glance, feeling he had to do something there.

The sight both terrified him and left him feeling disgusted with himself.

He could see Kaho on the ground, her haori ruffled and out of place, leaving her heaving breasts barely covered by her own hand, her eyes showing fear he had not seen there after all this time. Surrounding her was a group of men with the stereotypical appearance of street thugs, the lust in their eyes obvious.

'_Do something, you idiot!'_ knowing he couldn't just stand and do nothing, he grabbed one of the cans and pulled back his arm while taking aim.

Then the whole area was suddenly engulfed on a feeling of pain and death, Orihiko becoming paralyzed from the heavy pressure in the atmosphere.

**Play NieR OST – Song of the Ancients (Fate)**

"**Scum."**

"N-Naruto-san…" feeling overwhelmed from the aura emitted from her blond friend and her recent fear and confusion, Kaho could only faint while the Uzumaki slowly approached the alley, walking casually towards the thugs.

As he passed Orihiko, the black haired boy felt the aura lessen on him and he could only escape the scene, _'Gomen…' _even if he wanted to help, the feeling he got from the blond made him see his death, and that alone overtook any semblance of thought, his instincts moving his body away from this horrifying feeling.

On the rooftop of the building adjacent to the alley, a man with a dark attire and a facemask was unable to move, the moment he was about to stop those thugs the aura that now he knew came from the blond had completely terrified him beyond anything his landlady could. He wanted to run away, but he at least stilled himself to observe for now, his duty to unwinged Sekirei was above his own fear.

"**What were you doing to my friend?" **the cold tone without any obvious anger made one of the thugs feel braver, helping him to overcome the sudden feeling of death and sneered at the blond, "What's it to you brat? She followed us here and was willing."

Feeling emboldened by his fellow thug's bravado, the rest recovered and also started surrounding the young blond, who seemed to not even react to their moves, "Ho… already scared gaki?"

"Try me." Letting go of his own aura, the blond just closed his eyes and allowed the thugs to come at him. Without bothering to open his eyes, the blond started to dodge all the coming strikes from the men, never making more than light feints and twists that allowed him to stay on the same spot.

Homura was baffled, the moment the feeling of death had disappeared and he saw the men surrounding the blond he had decided to intervene, and yet now he could only gape as it seemed his presence was not needed. The grace and skill with which the blond moved reminded him too much of someone he knew, and so he was sure his help was not needed. He would stay though, he needed to make sure no. 87 was safe after this.

"What the hell?! How can we be missing? He's not even moving!" grabbing a pipe that was lying on the ground near some boxes, he lunged at the blond, swinging with all the force he could muster, a wild look in his eyes.

Finally, Naruto stopped dodging. He just grabbed the pipe mid swing and threw his attacker to the other side, delighting on the sound of the crash with the wall.

"Think you can bypass me still?" chucking darkly, he could only smirk wickedly at them, **"Come, let me teach you despair…"**

A sudden burst of air seemed to originate from the blond, its current crashing with everyone there and letting them feel the intent the blond was emitting. Slowly, each one started to shake and wobble, their eyes going wild staring everywhere before they started yelling like crazy and running away, as if they had seen madness itself. Honestly, one couldn't expect civilians from his time or the current world to be able to endure a shinobi's killing intent.

Moments after they left, Naruto slowly approached Kaho and lifted her, fixing her clothes before putting her head on his lap while he caressed her cheek softly, smiling at the slowly waking girl. _'I barely made it… maybe I shouldn't overstay my time at the hospital to visit that poor sick girl all the time, damn busty girl convincing me we could stay a bit longer and getting that sweet girl in trouble with the staff.'_

**Transition to play NieR OST – Song of the Ancients (Popola) HQ Mix**

"Kaho-chan…"

"Naruto-san…" blinking confusedly at her current position, Kaho just glanced at the rest of the empty alleyway before staring at her blond friend, seeing something in his eyes she had never seen before in anyone else directed at her, it felt really warm.

"What happened, where are the other people that said they were Ashikabis?"

"Oh, those guys? I just told them you already had found your chosen one, and so only needed to wait here for him to arrive, I asked them nicely to leave and so they did." His smile somehow felt different than usual, but Kaho trusted his friend.

"Really, thanks Naruto-san! You're always looking out for me, aren't you?" And in her mind, that made absolute sense. Ever since meeting him, Naruto had always been around after Kaho decided she had been waiting for her Ashikabi enough for the day and then taking her to that little café, or sometimes to the park just to hang out. She had learned a bit about her friend, about how he was also a newcomer to the city and had two friends besides her, one in the hospital and another a girl who always joined him to visit the first girl there, she wanted to visit along him but it seems the hospital was really strict on limiting the number of visitors. About how much he liked ramen and thought it was a food made by the gods. About how he had learnt strength was only worth having if you needed it to protect someone precious. About fun and kindness. About not letting anything stop you from reaching your dreams. About never giving up.

Kaho loved to listen him talk, there was always something on his eyes when he did, speaking of a burning passion to do what's right and unrelenting determination, just as she hoped her Ashikabi would be. Until now, she hadn't noticed she was now visiting the intersection each day hoping to see Naruto sooner than finding her Ashikabi. Until now.

'_Come to think of it… why can't Naruto-san make me react?'_

"Kaho-chan?"

Broken out of her thoughts to stare at her friend's blue eyes, she made a decision. Slowly standing followed by the blond, she gazed at her friend with determination shining in her eyes.

"Naruto-san, are you an Ashikabi?" it would explain why he was so nonchalant with all the info on Sekireis and Ashikabis she had dropped on him.

"Eh? Why would I be one Kaho-chan?" utterly confused, he just kept staring at his friend, noting her eyes were focused on him with something he couldn't recognize, yet felt he should be plenty familiar with.

"Because I want you to be my Ashikabi! But... I can't feel any reaction from you, why?!" grabbing his hands into her own, she could only fight the incoming tears, the more she thought about it the more it hurt. Even if minutes ago the idea would never affect her or cross her mind, now that she had decided on her own her emotions ran wild.

'_I want to react to him! I want Naruto-san to be my chosen one!'_

"But weren't you determined to bond with that boy you've been waiting for daily?"

"I was! But now I know it, I know I want you to be my chosen one! I want it! So why can't I react to you?!" losing the battle, she just hugged the blond letting her tears fall, feeling him reciprocate and hold her ever so gently.

'_This warmth… this kindness… I want to believe! There's no way this can't be weaker than a reaction!'_ feeling her chin be slowly lifted, she lost herself on the eyes of the blond, sensing them looking into her soul for something.

"Then fight for it."

"Huh?"

"If this is what you really want Kaho, then fight for it! Who cares if I'm an Ashikabi or not?! You want to react to me so we can bond? Then make it happen! As if something as silly as being fated to react to someone could stop you and your will, screw the bond and reaction system! Don't let it rule you!" And Kaho believed him, she could clearly see the passion in his eyes, practically engulfing her. Right now, she could clearly feel his intent, as if asking her if she was the woman he thought he was all along or not.

'_I want it, and he believes in me…'_ the same drive now burning in her eyes, Kaho decided to close her eyes and bask in his warmth.

'_React…'_

…

'_React.'_

…

'_React!'_

…

…

'_You dumb core, REACT I TELL YOU!'_

And suddenly, she felt it, a thump that just increased the warmth she felt. And another. And more and more following, as if her body couldn't contain itself.

Naruto could only see her opening her eyes after a few minutes of silence, a smile that was just oh so beautiful on her face. Just as he was about to say something, Kaho ended lunging at him till they fell on the ground, mashing her lips to his own with such passion he only felt a tongue entering his mouth and then lost himself in the moment.

Homura could only smile at the luminescence coming from the alleyway, watching how the wings of light that represented the bond he had sworn to protect engulfed everything they could reach. What he had seen and heard was something he thought his landlady should hear as soon as possible, even he had been taken by the blond's passion and belief in his own words.

* * *

><p><strong>And done! For now, this is just a one-shot that needed to be written. Also, RAWR we need a Kaho tag for Sekirei characters.<strong>

**To be honest, I got inspired from seeing so many hits on my main fic so thanks everyone! I just wish the review count was as good as the hit/follow/fav one haha :D**

**Also decided to post one challenge in my profile, maybe will write more later :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**It took a long time, but I actually managed to write another chapter! Inspiration for a Romance focused fic is hard.**

**Disclaimer: Same as last chapter, no way I own either of those two series.**

* * *

><p><span>Day of Kaho's winging, early morning<span>

The first rays of sunshine of the day were passing through the window of one of the hospital rooms of Higa Pharmaceuticals, slowly waking the only patient residing there. Slowly rubbing her eyes, the girl let out a small yawn and raised her arms to stretch a bit to face the new day.

"Chiho-chan, morning!"

"Kyaaa!" quickly diving into her bedsheets, Chiho lowered them a bit to stare at the blond that trespassed into her room against the hospital regulations… again (as far as she knew). Faced with his cheeky smile and twinkling eyes, the girl could only try to fix the mess that was her long light brown hair with her hands and take deep breaths to calm herself, a slight blush easily seen if she lowered the bedsheets. Feeling calm enough after a few minutes, she smiled softly at her visitor despite the sheets covering said smile.

"Morning Naruto-kun… how did you get here this time?" lowering the bedsheets at last, she saw the blonds' expression had not changed much, going from cheeky to the type of smile one had when performing a perfect prank.

"By asking nicely? I wanted a head start for the morning walk and some alone time with my adorable Chiho-chan of course! Now hurry and change while I go arrange things so you can be out in the garden for the whole day!" winking and not waiting for her to react, Uzumaki Naruto exited the hospital room of long term patient Hidaka Chiho.

Said girl could only sigh in relief at getting a small breather. While she was ecstatic that now she had two great friends constantly at her side, Naruto tended to be too overwhelming for the shy girl, unlike Uzume who was just a bit teasing but caring, his antics constantly making a mess of her emotions towards her new friend. It didn't help that he was rather handsome and had a mix of a wild personality to match his endless energy and being a tease. Might as well hurry and dress for the day, she doubted the hospital personnel could stop him from getting what he wanted for long and a girl always needed to look nice.

Not even half an hour later, Naruto could be seen pushing Chiho in her wheelchair through the hospital's garden, the girl now in a long white dress that was adorned with many frills and blue ribbons, along a white sunhat covering her head, the hat decorated with a blue ribbon too. Overall it was a simple look that gave the impression of a delicate lady that fitted perfectly with the girl.

Now that she could stare without catching his eye she would take the chance, as he seemed to be just enjoying the feel of nature surrounding him while watching the small road. Her companion had gone with a casual look, donning a white dress shirt that was completely unbuttoned, allowing her to easily see the burnt orange shirt underneath, and the latter being a tight fit seeing she could easily discern her friend had a surprisingly lean and muscled physique. The black slacks and shoes combined well, which overall left Naruto with a nice combination of clothes that suited him. She was not sure how much time passed, but seeing her friend so well dressed was… distracting.

"Do my clothes look weird? You've been staring for a while Chiho-chan..." tilting his head to the side, his confusion increased at the way the girl blushed at being discovered.

"Well… it's just that they fit you too well Naruto-kun… and you don't look like the type to care about the way you dress." Part of her was really glad the blond mostly teased her in tandem with Uzume, otherwise this was a prime opportunity to embarrass her.

"Oh. I blame the woman manning the store where I bought this the other day. For some reason she completely forced this and other sets on me, I barely managed to get enough orange from what I chose at first!" remembering his taste for all things orange, Chiho decided that if they ever found out which store the blond went, she and Uzume would send a huge thank you note to the woman. That and watching Naruto pout and feel slighted on the greatness of orange was funny.

Changing gears, the blond kept pushing while sending a grin to the girl, "Anyways, how are you feeling Chiho-chan? Nice day right?" seeing they were closer to the huge tree where they had agreed to have lunch later, Naruto began pushing a bit faster while avoiding any bumps on the road.

"It is, the sun and breeze feel so nice!" closing her eyes to enjoy the weather, Chiho was glad her illness had receded enough to let her enjoy outdoors daily. Ironically, this had coincided with the day she and Uzume had found Naruto in this very same garden. She just hoped she could enjoy more days like this one for a while, before her condition worsened.

Broken out of her thoughts by a tap on her left shoulder, she opened her eyes to see they had reached the tree, Naruto waiting for her permission to carry her so they could rest on the tree for a while. It was so rare to see him be so tender and caring, so she allowed herself to enjoy the moment and just wait for Uzume to arrive.

* * *

><p>A while later, Uzume was seen entering the hospital and taking advantage of her status as a regular visitor to avoid the check-in on the visitor logbooks while carrying a huge picnic basket her landlady had agreed to prepare for them. It also helped the nurse manning that counter was a man, and as she was by now used to, just another pervert too busy drooling after her body to pay attention. After some prodding she was told Naruto had arrived hours earlier and was currently in the garden with Chiho. Heading to the garden, she totally ignored the fact her hip hugging capri jeans and usual star themed pink and violet belly top emphasized her womanly curves just perfectly, along her long brown hair and brown eyes combining to be a figure most men (and some women) couldn't help but perv on, so most of the blame was on her to begin with. While she normally didn't mind those, and actually enjoyed the attention, whenever she came to visit her friend Chiho they made her feel dirty. It didn't help that adding Naruto to the mix increased those feelings.<p>

Heading to the garden, she passed by many of the nurses and patients that were allowed outside today. Watching them enjoy the day without a care, part of her couldn't help but frown at how many of the patients were allowed these liberties and comforts thanks to their wealth. Being a private hospital, she would have expected the staff to be harder to bribe and more dedicated compared to public ones but that was clearly not the case. It just meant the staff expected more money.

However, she couldn't in good faith hate them for their selfishness. Her own selfishness was what caused those feelings in the first place seeing she wanted all of those things for Chiho, but the money Chiho's family left behind was barely enough to keep paying the hospital costs. She had a lot to thank for her womanly charms and Naruto's charisma, those were the only reasons Chiho was allowed so many freedoms as of lately. The blond in particular was a huge boon in that aspect, seeing how he could emanate an aura of command and mischief at will that had helped convince some of the staff that she had been unable to. The promise of future pranks and constant annoyance was enough to convince some of the most stubborn and greedy personnel who had wanted rather _specific_ things from her.

Doing her best to forget such thoughts, she focused on just heading to the tree that by now she knew her friends would be waiting at. What she didn't expect was the position she would end finding them. Both were currently taking a nap while leaning on the tree's trunk, Chiho's head resting on Naruto's shoulder comfortably and her sleeping face was just adorable. The sunhat Uzume was used to see on her head was resting on her lap and it was obvious the girl had been sleeping for a while from how content she seemed to be. Naruto on the hand had his head tilted to the side opposite of where Chiho was leaning on him, a line of drool seen falling from his mouth. Unlike Chiho, she could see the blond had new clothes and they actually enhanced his looks, to the point Uzume herself didn't notice the slight blush on her own face and how long she stared.

When she did notice, she groaned in frustation, _'...dammit Naruto! You don't get how hard you have made my life do you?'_ she wanted to pound the blond to oblivion, but it wasn't the idiot's fault. Life had been so simple before she and Chiho had found a bloody Naruto near this same tree a few weeks ago, her goals back then had been only to be happy at Chiho's side and maybe get her to become her Ashikabi.

She couldn't help but reminisce about how much her life had changed from the moment Naruto arrived into their lives while she started to set up everything for their picnic.

Men were all perverted and not worth her time, her life a nice mix of fun and happiness between the daily antics at Maison Izumo and the time she could spend with Chiho at the hospital. Then Naruto appeared, practically ignoring her on their first meeting at Chiho's room and just swarming their now mutual friend with attention and gratitude for saving him. Only until he had practically overwhelmed Chiho with said gratitude to the point she fainted had he noticed her in the room. In a complete reversal of attitude, he had just laughed a bit in embarrassment and thanked her too, making small talk with the busty brunette until Chiho returned to the land of the living.

'_And he never stared at me with lust like all other men, he was just… nice, if a bit of a knucklehead. Such a mystery too though...'_ unlike Chiho who had forgotten his initial condition due the shock his bloody appearance caused her, Uzume had clearly seen all the wounds his body had been covered with, the condition of his clothes helping her assess he had been in a fight not unlike a Sekirei battle if the degree of the injuries was a sign of it. The mystery was that by the time Chiho had recovered his wounds were half way gone too!

Wary of the blond stranger by that point, she tried to force him out of the room (and their lives) but he had just shrugged off her aggression and promised Chiho he would visit tomorrow, ignoring the worry the young girl had for him and his current condition. The week after that the blond had practically forced himself into their daily routine, much to Uzume's annoyance back then, _'I tried so hard to be subtle and make him go away, and yet he never gave in… just trying to make Chiho smile and be his friend.'_

That was the main reason of her current inner conflict, Naruto had been successful, way more than he knew about. Uzume was aware Chiho probably treasured the blond's friendship as much as hers by this point, if not more. Uzume herself had been beaten at her own game too, she clearly remembered how she had tried to prove Naruto's perverted intentions by using her own charm to seduce him, thinking maybe he was after her for being a Sekirei. The memory of his counterattack still making her blush.

**"_Kyaa!" rubbing her sore butt, Uzume was just about to pulp her attacker in a blind rage until the moment she stared at him, there was no lust there, just pure mischief and a vindictive smirk._**

**"_Naughty Uzume-chan, maybe I should keep Chiho away from perverted seductresses like you!" acting as if he hadn't just slapped her luscious butt, Naruto just skipped away back to Chiho who was waiting for the two in one of the benches in the hospital garden, leaving a gaping Uzume behind._**

In that moment, she had learnt the blond just wanted to be their friend, nothing more. The following week had cemented their friendship with their mutual knack for pranks and teasing. It wouldn't be until the end of last week Uzume had noticed her reaction for Chiho was practically just a small pulse in her chest now. Miya herself was confused about it the moment Uzume had went to her with the news, completely confused and worried. After all, while losing the reaction to someone was not unheard of, it was normally a consequence of a stronger reaction overwhelming the Sekirei. Uzume herself had confirmed that she was not reacting to anyone else now.

However, the brunette knew this was related to Naruto, because nowadays she enjoyed time with the blond as much as she enjoyed her time with Chiho in the past, the moments where the three were together being just pure joy to the Sekirei. Noticing how late it was getting, she decided to wake the two sleepyheads and just forget all her worries and enjoy another day with her precious people.

* * *

><p><span>Back with Naruto and Kaho, after the previous chapter ended :P<span>

When the moment came, Kaho had to separate from her Ashikabi due lack of air, noticing how Naruto had a dazed look and was totally out of it. _'My ashikabi...'_ closing her eyes in contentment, she tried to look for the bond that was formed during their liplock.

Finding it with ease, she tried to find the feelings of love and complete devotion her adjuster told her would come from it the moment she was winged. The moment she didn't feel anything passing through the bond she fought back the urge to blink. Not knowing much about the intricacies of the bond, she decided to leave it alone for the time being, _'It's not as if I need something telling me I should love my Naru-kun more than I do right now.'_ still basking in the afterglow of her winging and the acceptance from her Ashikabi, she missed him returning to reality.

'_Wow… I think I totally underrated this whole kissing business...'_ as far as anyone knows, he would never count that accident in the Academy as a kiss, there was no way both experiences could count as the same. Same with that incident with Fuka, _'Maybe Ero-sennin was not as crazy as I thought if kissing feels this good… no, concentrate!'_ After the kiss he had sensed something weird slowly occupy the part of his mind he had always thought represented his bond with Kurama, and moments ago it felt like something from the other side was trying to coerce something from it. Also, he could sense someone with chakra nearby, which had him sober up to stay on edge.

'_Dammit, she left out many things from the whole Sekirei/Ashikabi deal! I bet that damn big breasted tease did it just so she can keep one upping me in front of Chiho-chan...'_ experimenting, he tried to focus on the connection the same way he did with the mangy fox in the past, _'Kaho-chan…?'_

"Kyaaa! "Seeing the smiling woman open her eyes and stare at him with her eyes shining like stars made him smile. She always had the same expression whenever she found something new,_ 'And if our time together showed me something, is she knows less than me about the current world, strange in itself.'_

"Naru-kun, was that you I just heard in my mind?! Amazing, my adjuster never told me such a thing could be possible!" raising an eyebrow at the change in how she referred to him, he raised a hand, making a motion for her to calm a bit and let him talk. Closing his eyes, he tried to sense the chakra source and found it after a few tries, apparently above them, _'which means there's a chance they've been observing us for a while. And I'm still bad at this whole sensor thing if it took me so long. Can't be an enemy seeing he or she never went for it while I was distracted right?'_

"You! Up there! Been enjoying the lightshow? I need to ask you some questions."

"Urk!" knowing fleeing might not be the best idea, Homura leaped to the alley and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "As long as you don't mind answering some questions of my own, I don't mind."

Taking in both the appearance of the white haired man and how he did the leap with ease, Naruto decided he could take things calmly, though he noticed how Kaho tried to position herself between both men without much success due him not allowing so. He could actually feel her glaring at him the moment he stepped closer to the man with the black coat, "How much did you see?"

"Seeing I was here before you arrived, more than enough." feeling a fraction of the pressure from minutes ago on him once again was certainly not what Homura expected so soon.

"You mean to tell me you saw what was so obviously happening and you were not even going to do something?!" from Kaho's confused face, he knew he was right in not going into the details, bless her naivete.

"I was about to! Then you decided to appear and-" feeling another increase of pressure, Homura was confused at how Kaho seemed completely unaffected.

"Good to know, but why would a Sekirei defend someone they obviously don't know then? Are you recruiting for your Ashikabi?" not knowing he had touched a sensitive subject, now Naruto could feel the glare from the black clothed man.

"I am unwinged, and my job is to protect unwinged Sekirei from unsavory situations." and with that, all the previous tension was gone to Homura's increasing confusion.

"Oh, so you're the Sekirei Guardian Uzume-chan was telling me about the other day! Your timing sucks big time! Unless you were playing the whole 'Hero arrives at the last second' gig thing." nodding to himself, Naruto missed the stare his Sekirei was giving him about knowing this unknown Sekirei and how he had stopped her from protecting him. Her irritation grew the moment she heard the affectionate suffix for another girl.

Facepalming, Homura could already feel this blond would be a constant migraine if he was like this even half of the time, "That I am, but how do you know my friend?"

"Oh you know, from wandering around the city. Just had to follow one of those trails of blood made by knocked out perverts that needed some pranking in their lives, she's a good partner for that kind of retribution fufufu..." definitely a pain in the ass, and now Homura understood why Uzume was in such a good mood as of lately. She was a tease by nature, and having a partner in crime would be a welcome reprieve from her daily hospital visits.

"So… is your job any fun whitey?" broken out of his thoughts, Homura actually blinked at that, ignoring the comment on his hair color. "What do you mean by fun? Fun has nothing to do with being a guardian."

"Ugh… I can totally tell from your face. Stick in the mud type huh?" before he could actually retort, the blond just raised his hand to stop him, "No offense meant, you're just too serious to take anything lightly right? Bet Uzume-chan has lots of fun with you." the barest of twitches told Naruto how right he was.

"You still haven't answered me." from the deadpan he was getting, it was obvious the white haired male was not gonna respond soon unless he made himself clear.

"Ugh… have to change my question seeing you're too uptight for fun. Do you enjoy being a Guardian?" watching the man go into the think tank again, Naruto tried to facepalm… only to notice Kaho had the arm he tried to use engulfed in her embrace, as if trying to ascertain her territory while closing her eyes and acting as if she was not listening at all. _'That was… fast. I never sensed her approaching or anything! At least she stopped trying to act as a human shield for me',_ and from her grip, he might not get back his arm for a while.

Seeing Homura was still on the think tank and more importantly, he was starting to get hungry, Naruto decided his priorities with ease. "You know what, might as well leave you to think on it, but I already know you enjoy it whitey… maybe the next time we meet you'll be able to say it without thinking too much about it." Also, he supposed he might need to finally look for somewhere to live… Kaho might not be amused at sleeping on trees, so better to put some time of the day for that instead of waiting here.

"Wha- wait a second! You can't just ask me deep stuff and then leave when you get bored of it?!"

"Sure can. See ya whitey!" and just like that, Naruto left the alley with Kaho in two, the girl now in her happy place and just moving along her Ashikabi. As far as she knew, he not trying to get back his arm meant he liked their position.

Balking at how he was just ignored, Homura could only groan in annoyance. "Asshole, not giving a chance to at least tell him my name… whitey sounds horrible." Putting all his thoughts regarding his role aside for the time being, the Sekirei Guardian leapt away to at least do his job for a few more hours, the alley once again completely empty and quiet. It wouldn't be until he was at least three buildings away that Homura noticed he never got anything relevant from the blond he had intended to question.

* * *

><p>On the center of the city, in the main building of MBI things were not so calm. The room that was the source of all the noise and stomping was a huge room that had all of its walls covered by their surveillance technology, which was supposed to be unmatched thanks to the advantage in technology obtained from studying the Sekirei ship and reverse engineering. In each of the main screens, images from all over the city could be seen, each one having in common the presence of a Sekirei, the images constantly in rotation to show the monitoring of their assets was as thorough as possible.<p>

While the team assigned to this area was normally all over the place passing documents and information, everyone was currently on their seats trying to make themselves as tiny as possible to avoid the palpable ire of their boss.

Said boss was currently taking deep breaths to regain her calm, not even glancing at the screen that was currently showing her son dragged like a ragdoll by no. 88 while being chased by the Thunder Twins amused her enough to forget their latest security issue. Sahashi Takami sighed while staring at the report she had in her hands once again, passing her hand through her short hair in irritation.

The first page contained all the data they had on no. 87, Kaho. As expected, there were all sorts of statistics regarding her combat ability, physical appearance, background (of which some parts were only for her and Minaka's eyes) and even recent reports regarding her activities ever since she was released into the city. The source of her annoyance came from the field where the name of her Ashikabi and all the data MBI had on the individual was supposed to be the moment their systems registered her winging. So far, all of they had for data there was a blurred photo of Kaho and a blonde man walking on the rain. Not even a name or anything besides his gender so far!

'_That's supposed to be impossible! Is it another addition by that idiot?!'_ so far that was the closest lead she had to the reason for their lack of information. She had been in charge of most of the technical details of their acquisition of Shinto Teito, and chief among those was gathering data on every individual that lived in the city and setting up all the security and information probes for any entry/exit point. It had been tedious and hard to hide from public scrutiny, but Takami had been proud to say there was not even one homeless man or woman that they did not know of extensively. And it had been some weeks since they started enforcing all types of security and scanning measures on the borders of the city so there was no way this was a recent arrival either. _'For all of our information probes to fail to even gather one speck of info on this man...might as well check with baka Minaka just in case this is another factor he added to the game just to annoy me...'_ there was no way her work had been amiss somewhere, so it had to be his fault.

The moment their boss left the room, everyone took a deep breath and relaxed, the natural pressure and presence of the woman when angered was enough to make them tense and afraid for their jobs despite the lack of any yell or vocal reprimand. Knowing the company's CEO was about to be the target of said ire was a bonus, seeing she always returned in a good mood after taking out all the pent up anger on the durable lunatic.

* * *

><p>After a rather uncomfortable walk for Naruto, who never got his arm back and had to endure the slow pace his Sekirei was set on walking, both finally arrived at the quaint little cafe they visited nearly daily. The moment they entered, the owner set her sights upon them and had a twinkle in her eyes impossible to hide.<p>

"Hoho! So you finally became man enough to make her yours?" glancing at the girl who was obviously still out of it and then at the blond's face who was about to answer, the woman hummed while shaking her head, "Forget what I just said, it's obvious she took the first step, dense idiots like you won't ever notice a girl crushing on him even if it's jarringly clear to everyone with eyes." nodding to herself, she started pushing the couple from the entrance towards what was slowly becoming their usual table, Naruto just blinking in confusion at the woman's words. Somewhere else (more specifically on another dimension), several girls sneezed, a busty Hyuuga doing so the loudest.

Kaho on the other hand, had snapped of her daze at the owner's words and blushed prettily while staring curiously at the woman, "Was it that obvious...?" because as far as she knew, she had only decided on it back at the alley just a while back, not something that seemed to be from a few days back.

After reaching their table and letting them sit, Naruto lost himself in his thoughts of hunger and ramen. Taking advantage of the blond being out of it from his vacant expression, the owner winked at the brunette, "For anyone paying attention dear. Though now I owe one of my frequent customers a free meal, since it seems you were as oblivious as that knucklehead." she already knew said knucklehead was in his happy ramen place, since that was the real reason he came. A nearby ramen stand that was always busy as hell always delivered him orders here seeing the man in charge was a friend of hers and rarely had space available on his stand. The tip for the service on both sides was a nice bonus too, even if it seemed weird. _'Maybe his home is so ugly and in bad condition he prefers to only sleep there? Then again, we forced the deal on him seeing he was completely fine with abandoning his date for ramen every time they came here.' _Seriously, where men nowadays such rascals as to abandon their dates for food?

Feeling a poke on her arm, she blinked and noticed Kaho was still staring at her curiously, "Well, I was sure you were slowly snaring him so I lost a bet, that's all dear." the girl only shook her head and smiled shyly, "I actually wanted to know how did you know I was in love..."

"Oh, that? It comes with the job dear. Just look around you, normally we only get visits from couples or just frequent customers, so you eventually learn to know when someone's in love by their mannerisms." making a gesture with her hand, she pointed to some of the current customers to make her point. "See those two? Both are probably on their first or second date and unsure of their feelings. Just observe them for a few minutes." Not seeing any harm on it, Kaho decided to watch them as told.

One of the first things she noticed was the way both seemed to avoid each other's eyes whenever they felt the other was staring. The young man was constantly trying to fix his glasses or clean them as to have something to do with his hands while the girl seemed to be hesitating a lot to try and catch his attention, one of her hands was constantly raised and then lowered with a slight tremble. It was one of those uncomfortable silences neither side was able to break it due nervousness.

While it would seem adorable for most women, seeing it nearly was the classic shy and cute stereotype for a first date, Kaho was just confused, _'If they like each other, why hesitate at all?'_

"Fufufu, you're a really straightforward girl right?" starting to get used to the way the girl seemed to blink in confusion to most of her questions, the owner smiled slyly, "Definitely a good match for a blunt idiot like Uzumaki-san, I could totally read your confusion there."

Waiting for the girl to focus again, she chuckled goodnaturedly and decided to just be as direct as possible, "The reason me and others were able to figure out your feelings with ease is because how different you are from that potential couple you just observed. That girl has doubts and a shy personality, so it's hard for someone like her to put her feelings into words unlike you. Tell me Kaho-chan, can you remember anything about this cafe, the people or the atmosphere from your visits so far?"

Not getting the sudden change of topic, the brunette closed her eyes and tried to recall as asked, nodding with a bright smile seconds after, "The cake! It was so delicious! And the sweets too!"

"Anything else that is not food related?" while glad for the praise, the woman was starting to recall how much Kaho ate whenever the duo visited and could feel a sweatdrop start to form.

"Um… the place was clean?"

Chuckling, the woman just waved away Kaho's apparent concern, "Don't worry, I knew you wouldn't remember anything dear, and that's part of my point. Everyone that watched you two for a few minutes could see it. Every time that motormouth started to talk it was as if the world stopped existing for you, most of the time you are here you barely notice anything that's not him." Taking a look at the other tables just in case anyone was unattended, she saw only the usual people from the lunch rush around, "While at the beginning it looked as if it was just curiosity from your part, as the days passed your expressions changed to the point most of the old couples started the bet pool for when you two would end up together. That and a lot of cooing at how adorable you looked."

Having said her piece, the owner went back to her kitchen to relay the usual order of the brunette and give said girl some space to think. And from Kaho's contemplative expression, it seems she really had a lot to think about.

* * *

><p>After their meal (ramen for Naruto and mostly desserts for his Sekirei), both left the cafe mostly to avoid the owner's teasing after Naruto had ended his ramen. Taking into account how much both ate, it was no surprise the sky was starting to darken and less people roamed the streets. Out of habit, Naruto was walking towards the park he had slept in during his stay in this dimension, with a silent Kaho attached to his right arm. As they approached the tree that he stayed at, Naruto noticed there seemed to be someone leaning on said tree, a woman due the curves that could be easily distinguished even from his current position.<p>

Curious, he channeled chakra to his eyes to sharpen his vision, a neat trick that doujutsu users discovered could be used by most ninja. While not as impressive as the increased range or predictive abilities some were known by, being able to identify previously blurry figures was a needed skill for most scouts, bounty hunters and border patrols.

While not giving night vision, it was enough for the blonde to recognize the curves of one of his two current friends. A small part of himself, one that was always nurtured by Jiraiya, could definitely appreciate the figure of the buxom female that the pair was slowly approaching. _'Now that I think about it, maybe Uzume-chan is also an ashikabi? It would explain why she knew so much about Sekirei to begin with… not a better time than the present to ask!'_ waving with his free arm in greeting, he missed the frown on Uzume's face directed at the girl that was practically glued to his right arm. He also missed the stern expression Kaho was throwing her way.

Unlike Naruto, Kaho could easily discern the girl waiting at the tree was a Sekirei like herself, and was already suspicious seeing the girl could hide her power so well. _'Naru-kun never told me he knew other Sekirei… is she luring my Ashikabi for something?'_ a part of her was excited at the prospect of battle, but glancing at her Naru-kun waving happily had her restrain from just rushing the other girl, conforming with just tightening her hold on Naruto's arm.

At the tree, Uzume barely managed to stop herself from frowning at the way the other Sekirei was hanging of her friend's arm. Why things were always getting more complicated for her whenever she decided on something? _'And to think the day had started so well...'_ from the way the other Sekirei seemed to be setting the pace, she had at least a few minutes before they reached her, so Uzume just raised her arms to stretch upwards, the motion causing her chest to bounce a bit and as a consequence feeling the gaze of Kaho turn into a full-blown glare. Apparently both Sekirei were used enough to the dark to have a better vision compared to normal humans and the shrine maiden seemed to be rather territorial.

Or maybe it was due the way Naruto's eyes seemed to follow the bouncing breasts, but she doubted his eyesight was that good with the growing dark and the street lights not turning on yet.

Unfortunately for Uzume, as they approached she started to feel something that was both good and bad. The small feeling of warmth that she associated with Naruto was growing at an alarming rate in her chest, going from what she had thought was just her natural affection for a friend to full blown reaction. And while normally that would be the clincher for her earlier dilemma regarding the blond and Chiho, the presence of the Sekirei accompanying him meant this was a byproduct of a winging.

_'This is just totally unfair!'_

* * *

><p><strong><em>If it's not obvious with the time difference between chapters, this was hard to write so any and all input is welcome XD Wish I had a beta to help with all the grammar issues I'm sure people will find :P<em>**

**_Sadly, been a while since I've been without a computer at home so update will be slow and such. Might insert some song cues later if I recognize which ones fit._**

**_For those who want to know, besides Kaho my options for Naruto's sekirei would be among Uzume, Kazehana and Akitsu. Willing to read arguments for other Sekirei though. Also, Akitsu is a big if because I don't want to use the by now usual approach to her winging._**


	3. Chapter 3

**You gus rock, you knew that? Getting to 80 reviews with just 2 chapters feels awesome! I wish my other fic generated that much feedback haha**

**Don't own Sekirei or Naruto, what's new?**

* * *

><p>Distracting bouncing flesh aside, Naruto glanced at his Sekirei in confusion at the way he could feel her grip tightening on his arm, to the point he was sure it would have leave a mark by tomorrow. "Kaho-chan, what's wrong? That is just Uzume-chan, one of the friends I've talked you about remember?" he winced at how she actually sunk her nails in his arm the moment he said Uzume's name.<p>

However, the way his friend seemed to suddenly lean on a nearby tree and start panting made him forget the pain and actually drag the girl on his arm much to her surprise. After reaching Uzume and seeing she was not even opening her eyes, just gripping the tree and trying to control her breathing, had him worried enough to nearly miss the way her chest heaved and bounced, emphasized by how tight her shirt was (though a small part of him would actually catalogue that memory for later review, much to his inner shame). For the moment though, he just put the back of his hand on her forehead, and freed his other arm from Kaho's grip as if it was nothing to grasp Uzume's shoulder in worry.

"Uzume?" Unfortunately, while those measures might help a girl with a growing fever, they had the opposite effect on a reacting Sekirei, which had her temperature do another spike and her body to start convulsing, _'D-Dammit, stupid kind idiot…'_ while a big part of her wanted to just lunge at the blond and seal the deal, the rest of her resisted the impulse and just conformed with hugging the blond close to her body to gather strength.

A few meters from them, Kaho had an unreadable expression on her face, not sure what to feel at the scene. She knew this was a reaction from her own experience, though she had never felt it in such a magnitude. _'Did Naru-kun's Ashikabi potential was so high from the start? No, this must be different, I never felt any Ashikabi vibes from him whatsoever…'_ a part of her felt wronged, the moment she chose on her own an Ashikabi to be at his side forever and ever the world decides he might as well attract more Sekirei? She was definitely jealous, but the way the reacting young woman was not trying to kiss her Naru-kun had her worry for Uzume. The opposite of her perhaps, an unwanted reaction?

Naruto however had less calm thoughts, he was really worried about his friend, and had no idea how to help her. _'What to do, what to do, what to do?! She is burning up and apparently can't control her body reactions and all… it's not as if I have healing chakra at my disposal… unless!'_ not even bothering to ponder why this could not be a good idea at all, he closed his eyes and started to calm by taking deep breaths, letting his chakra flow freely through all his body and starting to take the little nature energy he could feel from the park.

The moment both energies started mixing though, the results of Naruto using sage chakra could be felt throughout all the city, with every mayor player of the Sekirei Plan noticing the energy spike through their Sekirei reactions', all of the experienced ones being able to sense it and were actually floored at how hard the energy was to measure, though none of them would mistake it as weak. They may lack the training and instincts of shinobi, but the power up gained with sage mode was not a joke.

* * *

><p>In particular, the duo of the South, Hayato Mikogami and Sekirei no. 05 Mutsu felt it more than others due being currently exploring the area near the park. There was a rumor of a particularly powerful Sekirei in the area and Mikogami had immediately latched on to the idea of winging said Sekirei. Mutsu had different thoughts after that initial spike, seeing the feeling was not diminishing and acting as a beacon. "Mikogami, I think we should retire for the night."<p>

"Eh? No way! I can feel it, that Sekirei is close!" glaring at his taller silver-haired companion, said man could only sigh at his Ashikabi.

"There is an energy nearby that is not a Sekirei, and it's really strong. I can bet many throughout the city have felt it too, and only strong ones will be coming seeing most know to fear the Hannya's territory. An anomaly like this bodes ill for us, seeing you left the rest at home playing… what would you think will happen if the big players come here and find us alone?" Not even waiting for his Ashikabi's reaction, he lifted him to carry him on one arm, and started heading home much to Mikogami's whining. Letting Mikogami argue would only end with them hunting the anomaly due his childlike curiosity and mania of owning anything unique, and he was not in the mood to risk facing Karasuba, Higa of the East, Sanada of the West or in the worst case, Miya. They were currently in a semi neutral area seeing it joined the North and East of Shinto Teito. _'If it's not a Sekirei, it would naturally draw the Game Master attention's enough to make him use Karasuba, and risking treachery from the East forces' is not worth a potential Sekirei of unknown power.'_

Said unknown Sekirei was trembling from her position on one of the benches of the park, her light brown hair being messy and clumsily used to cover the forehead of the Sekirei. While she was only covering herself with a slightly bloodied doctor's coat and no other clothes, it was clear her trembling was not from the cold. _'…Warm… so… warm…' _being one of the beings closest to the energy that could actually sense the spike, she could actually feel it more clearly than others. Her lack of thoughts or emotion for the most part also eliminated any distraction or confusion in discerning how 'it' felt, the intent of the source of that energy was just soothing. She just knew she wanted to feel more of that warmness. It allowed her to forget her current situation, and such an escape from reality was just too good to be real for her. With slow movements, she started to stand while clutching the coat tightly to cover herself.

* * *

><p>At Uzume's home, one woman was gazing at the night sky with a slightly worried expression. She was dressed in shrine maiden clothes similar to Kaho's style, but instead of red her attire had different shades of purple that matched her hair.<p>

"Kagari-san, would you mind?"

"Of course, even I'm worried about Uzume… seeing she's supposed to be there from what Matsu registered before the spike." To be honest, the moment the energy spike messed up the MBI sensors Matsu was _borrowing_ he had been ready to head out and help his outgoing housemate. Currently decked in his Guardian outfit, the man just walked out from the corner he had been resting on towards the garden before leaping out.

After all, if Miya ever decided to go out on her own, it would completely shift the balance of the game. It was the only real reason Minaka allowed her to just 'waste away her potential' by being a demure and innocent landlady. _'Besides, that energy is just too similar to the one earlier today to be a coincidence…'_ a small shiver ran through his back at the memory, someone that could switch from scary to goofy that easily irked him more than he would like to admit, he needed no more people like Miya around.

* * *

><p>Talking about MBI, Sahashi Takami was already reaching her anger limits once again. Not only had she ended without any information on no. 87's Ashikabi due Minaka being his usual insane and arrogant self, now the supposedly routine checkup for no. 108 Kusano was turning to be anything but that.<p>

Currently contained in a cylindrical tank with a light green fluid, the small Sekirei seemed to be convulsing while floating there, her face showing pain and longing despite being unconscious. The liquid was originally colorless, but the crystal clear substance had gained color the moment Kusano had went on her current trance, her body sometimes being surrounded with a green aura that pulsed outwards.

"What do you mean you have no idea what's happening?!" the poor technician was already trembling at the woman's wrath, but he had to save his neck somehow, "W-Well, we o-only know she's resonating with something… or s-someone, b-but that makes no sense at all. No other Sekirei has a link with nature and plant life in general like her, and no. 107 was reported to show no anormal reactions so far…" so that also ruled out a phenomenom affecting Sekirei with opposite nature.

"Why are you telling me what we figured out during the first five minutes?! Gods, all of you are so useless at this… times like this, I miss having Takehito around." Her lackey already leaving the room in a panic, Takami sighed while watching all the vitals displayed in one of the screens in worry. _'If this keeps up, I might have to call Miyajima over this…'_ and seeing she even preferred dealing with Minaka over that woman, it said much of her desperation.

Luckily for her, it took 15 mins for Kusano to stabilize, but only because whatever caused the resonance seemed to disappear. Takami would decide to stop with the little girl's adjustment process and start dealing with the paperwork to transfer her to another facility more suited to study and analyze any issues that could endanger the small blond girl.

"First Kaho's Ashikabi and now this… I may need to be more proactive if anomalies are starting to appear so easily." She had even forgotten her wayward son being dragged around the city by no.88. And just to spite her, a manic looking Karasuba chose that moment to barge into the lab, demanding authorization to hunt down an energy spike that had her looking giddy with excitement.

Today was a horrible day to be Sahashi Takami, no doubt.

* * *

><p>Back with Naruto, Kaho could only gape at her Ashikabi's actions, it was already half an hour since he had started hugging Uzume and exuding that weird energy. <em>'How…?'<em> the way Naruto kept breaking every convention of what she was taught about humans and Ashikabi was just not funny anymore (not even a day after being winged!), she was sure he was stronger than her just by feeling the energy in the air surrounding Naruto and Uzume. While she understood Naruto was simply worried about his friend, it was just annoying for her to know that another girl had already hugged Naruto longer than she ever had the chance to. _'Remember Kaho, this is one of the traits that made you fall for him, you can't blame him for being himself… right?'_ That didn't mean she would not be grilling him later about this, or would stop feeling jealous about Uzume receiving so much of her man's attention and care.

Being the intended target of his crazy stunt, Uzume was currently out of sorts. While she was not sure how to describe it, she felt completely disconnected from the world and just engulfed in something cool and soothing, feeling small traces and caresses all over her body slowly decreasing her previous fever. Her raging thoughts and previous confusion and frustration just drifted away, allowing her to enjoy the calm and soothing sensation even more but making her unable to notice that whatever was engulfing her was also being absorbed into her body. Just before losing consciousness, she could feel a gentle breeze caressing all her body, making her feel as if nature itself was watching over her. _'Was that a whiff of ramen…?'_ a small smile on her face, she never noticed the relief in Naruto's face at how things had just gone all right before falling asleep.

Letting most of his sage mode energy return to his body, Naruto sighed at the exertion of focusing so much on manipulating nature energy for nonviolent purposes. Seeing it was simply part of nature, it was extremely hard to coerce and rein to the user's whims, using it as a supplement to his body's chakra or as a source of energy for jutsu was comparatively easy because it only consisted of infusing the energy into the technique or redirecting its flow once, either towards the technique, or to reinforce and enhance his body. Also, he was slightly worried at how just taking said energy drained him emotionally. While this time he had practically overwritten any intent lingering in the nature energy just to help Uzume by sheer force of will, he had recognized the malice flowing. _'Was this what the toads meant when they explained how the summon contract worked as a means to help their summoners harness sage mode? The sense of unity with the world it's still present, but the malice was definitely not something I ever felt when using it back home.'_ He knew this needed further thought, but getting Uzume home was more important. He was just glad using an energy source that was linked with becoming one with nature through meditation had worked as intended.

"Naru-kun…?"

"Kaho-chan, could you look after Uzume-chan for a few minutes? I'll explain everything, I just need to do something quickly." Waiting for his Sekirei to take Uzume off his embrace, he went into a lotus position and once again closed his eyes._ 'Gotta do this fast before I forget its feel or the trail disappears.'_ Now that he had a good idea of how Uzume's energy and aura felt from their embrace, he only needed to find it's trail to find out where her home was, it would take a few minutes, but sage mode was a boon in fixing his horrible sensor and tracker skills.

Picturing in his mind Uzume's aura and energy, it was actually easy to follow the trace of energy she had left on her way to the park. While he could not see in his mind the rest of the world, he already had clearly pictured the path he would need to follow to reach Uzume's house, as long as she didn't use unorthodox travel methods. Now that he was not fully focused on Uzume though, he could feel several energy sources approaching them, at various speeds and quantity too.

'_Maybe being a sage energy lighthouse was not such a good idea?'_ doing a small shrug, he opened his eyes and beckoned Kaho to come closer.

"Seeing I already did something out of the norm, might as well go for broke to avoid trouble, don't you agree Kaho-chan?" receiving a slight nod in response, the blond hugged his Sekirei that was still carrying his friend and taking advantage of the hug, did the hand signs for the Shunshin while his arms encircled the girls, vanishing in a whirl of leaves and covering a decent chunk of the way to Uzume's house, hopefully avoiding most of the individuals approaching the park.

Minutes later, a figure slowly approached the now empty space, her expression apparently unchanged to most, though a really observant individual would note some disappointment in her eyes.

"Gone…" not knowing what to do, she just went to a nearby bench and sat there, staring at nothing in particular and unmoving. Moments later, someone landed a few meters from the distraught woman, frowning at how the energy was gone. Noticing the other woman in the scene and actually drooling a bit at her lack of proper clothing, she smirked while waving the death scythe in her right arm.

"Ditching the others and their snack party was the right choice after all, she will be an amazing present for Mikogami-sama… maybe enough to be his favorite!" wiping the drool with her other arm, she barely managed to stop her leering and dodge an incoming fireball.

"Dammit, who dares?!" her beautiful brown hair had nearly been burnt by that fireball! Hearing the sounds of a landing behind her, she did a reckless swing with her scythe with all her strength. Luckily for her, it also generated enough wind to at least divert the next fireball from hitting her directly and just leaving scorch marks in her brown boots.

"Sekirei no. 06, Homura. Wanna tangle?" now less confident after learning her opponent was a single digit, she bit her lips in irritation. "Yomi, no. 43. I just want to take that Sekirei behind you to my Ashikabi, this has nothing to do with you!"

"Disagree. She is unwinged, and as long as she remains that way she's under my protection." Taking a glance at the nearly naked woman, his eyes widened a bit, "Even if she's the scrapped one, I choose to protect her from people like your master." Homura just extended the palm of his gloved hand, and a flame flickered into existence.

Growling at the man in the black coat, Yomi just shook her head before leaping away from the park. At least no one had seen her embarrassment just now. Homura could only smirk at her retreat, "Pest." Glancing at the other Sekirei in the area and feeling others approaching, he sighed at how that blonde left him a mess to clean up again. He had no proof at all that it was Naruto, but his gut told him so. That and the fact all the situation was troublesome to Homura.

"Did you at least manage to reach that guy before he left?" it was slow, but the woman wearing only a doctor's coat finally set her gaze on him, unblinking.

It took him a few minutes, but Homura finally understood what she was trying to do, "You think I know him…?" staring a few more moments at her and seeing a slight spark of hope there, he groaned, _'No doubt it was him! Not even a day since I met him and already causing me all kinds of trouble…'_ part of him was aware he was being irrational, but just remembering the meeting earlier that day rubbed him in all the wrong ways. It didn't help that later he had ended being grilled nonstop by Takami about any irregularity in the city (he was not sure why he had not mentioned the blond to her now that he thought about it), and then informed of the scrapped number he had just found and how dangerous she was. Hopefully Miya would not butcher him for what he was about to do… it was the right thing to do after all.

"While I don't know him per se… one of my housemates is a good friend of him, would you like to go there and ask for her help?" receiving a nod after some internal deliberation, the woman stood and not caring for her modesty, started leaping away with Homura before someone more competent than Yomi appeared. He was thankful the woman was inwardly desperate enough to trust a stranger's word.

Later that night, a rampaging Karasuba would destroy most of that area of the park in her rage at missing her potential prey. She was enraged to the point she ended missing the two Sekirei of the East that had been on the lookout for a few hours hoping that energy source returned. Ichiya and Toyotama at least had that to report to Higa the next day, so their punishment would be lighter when the left before midnight.

* * *

><p>Outside Izumo Inn, Naruto was currently scratching his head at the look of the place. Compared to most of the city, the house had that homey look he had expected from most of the clan compounds at Konoha. Definitely not what he expected when one thought of Uzume's home. The walk had been silent and tense, Uzume in a bridal carry all the way while Kaho seemed to mix glares and longing looks at him all the way from the alley they had luckily appeared from his Shunshin.<p>

Glancing at his Sekirei, he made a gesture towards the main gate, Kaho getting his gesture and knocking strongly enough on the wood to be sure it was heard. They didn't have to wait, as steps were heard and the gate opened to reveal Miya Asama.

"Ara ara, would you mind explaining why you're carrying one of my tenants at this hour of the night young man?" and while the question seemed completely innocent, the aura of death behind the woman was impressive. Naruto was nearly sure he could discern a slowly forming hannya mask. He was about comment on it when he felt his Sekirei tightly gripping his back and shivering.

"Neat trick lady, but would you tone it down? You're scaring Kaho-chan. Even Uzume-chan is shivering a bit, and she's asleep!" Doing so more out of surprise at the blond newcomer's lack of reaction than concern for the two Sekirei, Miya just blinked in confusion, "Ara, what trick?"

Smirking at what he perceived as a challenge, Naruto just made a gesture with his head pointing at his friend, "What trick indeed. Mind letting us in though? I don't want Uzume-chan to catch a cold seeing she's still shivering a bit." Miya could only smile demurely while stepping aside to let them inside her home. _'So this is the man Uzume has been hiding from us? How intriguing.'_ At least she knew she was not losing her touch seeing how terrified the blond's companion was from the way she was gripping the blond's back. Closing the gate, she nodded approvingly at how he was actually just waiting for her instead of just entering her home. He would never admit he had been studying her appearance after all.

"Miya Asama, landlady of this humble abode."

"Naruto Uzumaki, just someone awesome." Shaking her head at his introduction, she walked towards her home followed by the cheeky blond, noticing the way he walked despite the two girls affecting his balance was flawless. Intriguing indeed.

Minutes later, Naruto and Kaho were waiting on the main hall, the young woman clutching her concealed weapon to draw strength from it while seated in seiza on a soft cushion, while Naruto was propping his arm on it and just staring at the garden, the opened shōji door allowing him a great view. While nothing complex or particularly eye-catching, it was still a sight to see at night. Uzume had already been carried to her room, though he let Miya undress the girl and prepare her for bed to avoid any unneeded comments from the owner of the house.

"Ahem." While not ashamed of his habits, the blond at least made the effort to look slightly embarrassed and took a seat on one of the cushions, not even bothering with seiza knowing he was unable to do such a thing. Their host nodded in acknowledgement and put a plate with tea in the table.

"Thank you./Thanks!" while Kaho was demure and completely ladylike in the way she took the cup of tea and took a sip, Naruto was his usual brash self, first taking a small sip to be sure he wouldn't end with a burnt tongue and then taking a big gulp and sighing in satisfaction.

"Strong flavor, but refreshing." Smiling at the landlady, he waited for her to start the conversation. After all, he was actively trying to be as nice and polite as possible seeing he would be asking a favor of the landlady if things went well.

"Well, if you would Naruto-san?"

"Straight to the point Miya-san? I can't say I dislike that. Just to be sure, you're aware me and Uzume-chan pass a lot of time together during the morning right?" Seeing her blinking surprised him.

"I was… not aware of that detail, Uzume barely mentions you on our conversations. We are only aware you met recently and are good friends. That girl is surprisingly tight lipped about what she does outside home. We also know you meet daily before the day ends near the closest park, but nothing more." Seeing his confusion grow, Miya was starting to piece the situation that apparently the young man was completely unaware of. _'He's not lying, but I also know Uzume has never lied about spending the first part of the day with Chiho-san at the hospital… to think someone who was so apathetic towards men would allow one in her most precious time of the day… and to think she lets him call her Uzume-chan when she only allowed Chiho-san to call her that way in the past shows change.'_ Miya was curious if Uzume suspected Naruto was the most likely reason her previous reaction had nearly disappeared.

"We? Are you referring to Homura or are there more tenants besides you two Miya-san?" Without sage mode, he only had Uzume's description of those two, and unlike Homura who had been a perfect match to the description, Miya seemed demure and calm, the image of a domestic housewife. Not really matching the whole monster and scary image he had of her from his friend.

"Oh, you know Homura as well? How surprising."

"I just met him today. But Uzume-chan has told me some stories regarding both of you. Nothing bad I assure you." A lie, but he had noticed Uzume's shiver at the main entrance and decided to be the better man, _'Or just holding one over her for bragging rights, no one needs to know which one hehe…'_ good thing his poker face was good enough to hide his mischief.

"Did she? It's a shame she never did the same gesture for us then, you seem like a pleasant young man. Would you mind introducing your companion? She seems… shy." her demure smile was as good a poker face as his, she knew why the young Sekirei was so silent after all.

"Ah… my name is Kaho, it's a pleasure to meet you Asama-san." Way more mindful of her manners, Kaho did a slight bow both to show respect and avoid the eyes of the landlady.

"Back on topic, Uzume-chan was waiting for me at the park just like always, and I was going to finally let her meet Kaho-chan… but she seemed to sway before we were close enough, and apparently was showing signs of fever. I did my best to cool her down and she ended falling asleep on me. I guess we were lucky she told us the general direction of her house or we would be still looking for this place." Scratching his chin in contemplation, he had realized he still had no idea why that happened in the first place.

On the other hand, his words just confirmed her previous suspicions to Miya, though the confusion in his eyes let her know he was new to the whole Sekirei deal and not being shrewd, another plus so far. "How curious, she seemed fine this morning… you must have done a good job too, seeing she felt fresh when you brought her here."

"I did, right? It's a cool night too, so that helped!" proud of his accomplishment, he allowed himself to bask in praise before engaging in small talk for a while with Miya and Kaho, the latter becoming a bit more open after seeing the mysterious landlady was not pulling that scary aura again.

Before getting too distracted, Naruto coughed a bit to catch the attention of the two women, who were currently discussing what they knew of Uzume and Naruto's friendship in hopes the other knew more to small success. Pointing at the clock on the wall to his right, they realized it was already near midnight and both blushed at letting themselves get lost in gossip.

"As you can see, I don't think it's a good idea to prolong my stay any longer… would you mind doing me a favor Miya-san?" scratching the back of his head and chuckling, he hoped he had been polite enough to make her agree, being so polite was hard!

"I hope you aren't trying to freeload here after just meeting me Naruto-san, that would ruin the image I was starting to get of you…" giggling demurely at the blond's balking expression, Miya admitted to herself she would never deny him or anyone help if needed, but making people sputter and embarrass themselves was just a hidden pleasure of hers.

Naruto was actually surprised at how good this woman was in reading the mood, though she was not totally correct, "Is this a landlady's secret talent? Or just experience with dealing with all types of people?" he sweatdropped at the purplette going all 'fufufu' on him, not knowing she was picturing a certain piece of trash she knew that fitted freeloader to a T.

Elsewhere, Seo Kaoru sneezed, awaking her two Sekirei and getting electrocuted for it.

'_Maybe Uzume-chan was not totally wrong about her?'_ shrugging to himself, he waited for Miya to stop fantasizing for a few seconds, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting Kaho-chan stay the night here? As you may guess, Uzume-chan's little fainting spell took most of the time I was planning to use to look for a place to pass the night, and I don't want Kaho-chan going to her hotel at this hour."

"Oh, is Naruto-san not planning to ask for permission to stay here too?"

"Not at all! I have some stuff to deal with, so unfortunately I would have to pass on your kind offer."

"And what kind of 'stuff' would need your attention at this time of the night Naruto-san? Something devious perhaps?"

"I would like to know as well, Naru-kun." Feeling the glare from both women had him blink. What was going through their heads?

"For starters, going back to the park for my things? I've been sleeping there ever since I arrived to the city after all. It's not as if I carry all my stuff everywhere right?" Not exactly right seeing all his things were actually sealed in a scroll he had currently, but it sounded plausible to him.

Both women could only blink at that. "Are you serious Naruto-san?"

"But that can't be! You always pay for all our meals, and look clean and well-dressed Naru-kun! There's no reason for someone that obviously has money to live on the park like that!" He had to admit, Kaho's glare was rather cute with the way she puffed her cheeks and pointed at him with his concealed naginata.

"Uh… maybe because I like it? Being surrounded by nature is relaxing, and that big tree on the park is comfy." The way the two women were deadpanning at him just confused him all the more, _'People from this dimension are weird.'_ After all, why waste money when letting nature provide was so much better? Shinobi were not picky like most people regarding lodgings with their lifestyle and he saw no reason to change.

'_No wonder he is friends with Uzume… his quirks are as bad as hers it seems, just in a different way.'_ The bright side for Miya was that at least he seemed to be kind and not a pervert or a useless freeloader scum.

"Then I'll go with you! I want to see the place my Naru-kun lived until now!" trying to rise from her seat, she was pushed down by both Naruto and Miya, who could only blink before smiling at each other.

"Kaho-chan, you've had such a big day, and need your rest you know? Besides, it's not as if you possess night vision to appreciate the beauty of the place. Don't you agree with me, Miya-san?" if anything, the way both were smirking slyly lowered Kaho's ward due confusion.

"Certainly Naruto-san, should I expect you in the morning then? I doubt I could stop Kaho-san from hunting you down after breakfast after all." Grabbing the back of Kaho's yukata, the landlady lifted her with no effort at all and started dragging her towards the stairs to one of the vacant rooms, giggling demurely as if this was normal.

"Um! Night Kaho-chan, Miya-chan!" and with that, Naruto left Izumo Inn while his Sekirei was assigned a room and sleeping clothes by the not so innocent landlady of the place, who was twitching at the honorific used by the blond. He wanted to sleep at least a last time in that tree before getting forced by his Sekirei to a boring and constraining room. Besides, he really had stuff to do, like inspecting the park for any visitors still waiting for him to return in his paranoia, and _borrow_ more money from some of the local banks as usual. As long as he was not forced to publish Icha Icha to sustain himself, he would keep doing friendly visits to any bank he found on the way. _'It's not my fault I always welcome stealth practice, or that security nowadays sucks.'_ After learning about cameras and video, countermeasures were easy as pie for a shinobi.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Miya was just waiting on the only tenant missing from her home. She was starting to get worried seeing Homura was supposedly going to the same place Naruto and Kaho had been and had yet to return. For the time being, she could only distract herself by analyzing what she knew of the blond young man.<p>

He had been perfectly pleasant, polite and kind of charming in a way. But all the tells she had seen from his posture, balance and reflexes ticked her in the wrong way. The perfect synchronicity between her and Naruto when making Kaho stay at the Inn was what worried her the most. He had matched her speed and reflexes in that moment, and both had acted as if they were old friends teasing a mutual acquaintance. She just couldn't put her finger on what was exactly the reason part of her remained wary of Naruto while the rest was already warming up to him.

The sound of the main gate creaking alerted her of someone entering, though she was surprised Homura would use the main gate when he loved to showboat and just leap to the garden. She was not worried about unwanted visitors, seeing this was her territory. Moment later, Homura slid the door of the main hall and was not surprised to see Miya waiting. The presence behind him however had Miya widening her eyes in confusion.

"Gone… again." Homura could only sigh at the way the silent woman pointed out what he had suspected from the start.

"Stupid blond can't even stay still long enough for us to catch him at this hour? I swear he must be laughing at me somewhere out there." Being one of the best Sekirei sensors, he had hoped Kaho's presence at the Inn meant her Ashikabi was also around, but he was never that lucky. It didn't help that the moment he had deemed safe to walk, Akitsu had decided on a slow pace towards Izumo Inn.

"Homura, why did you bring Akitsu-san here…?" while she sympathized with the scrapped number the most among her feathers due their mutual inability to find an Ashikabi, she was not aware the woman had been released by MBI so this could bring conflict in the future.

"She was about to be forced into service of one of the big powers against her will. Apparently the energy spike we felt earlier was enough to make her hope for an Ashikabi of her own or something similar."

"Is she… reacting?" tilting her head in curiosity, she only saw Homura shake his head, "You know better than most that is impossible. For some reason, Akitsu wants to get closer to the source of the energy, which was Naruto if you still haven't connected the dots yourself."

"Ara?" now that was a surprise, Miya was sure the blond felt perfectly normal at first, but now this tidbit and her previous thoughts about the blond were making less and less sense.

"So… would you mind Miya? She needs some help and a place to stay." Still absorbed in her own thoughts, Miya just nodded while her tenant yawned and stretched his arms upwards, before retiring for the night grumbling about blonds only bringing him misfortune, not even bothering with trying to be charming as usual. Moment later, she decided to put the latest enigma in her life out of her thoughts and concentrate on Akitsu.

The young woman was still wearing the bloodied lab coat, and even her posture and expression showed exhaustion. _'Maybe this is a chance, helping one of my most unfortunate feathers was an opportunity I never expected to receive, and if she managed to arrive here I doubt Minaka cares for her whereabouts.'_ Approaching the stoic young woman, Miya started to push her softly towards the bath, wondering about these sequence of events brought about by one man.

* * *

><p>Slowly opening her eyes, Uzume yawned while trying to at least sit and stretch her sore body. Rubbing her eyes to dispel her drowsiness, she took a few moments to realize she was not in her room or in Naruto's embrace as she expected. Taking a look around, she was entranced by her surroundings.<p>

Currently, she was near a small river created from a series of curved mountains, their form being curious in its apparent flat surface and the way it seemed a road to the top spiral around each one. Water fell from the pointed top of each of those mountains akin to a waterfall to the river. She could see bigger mountains surrounding her in all directions, but unlike the previous ones, these were more normal in its shape, but their green color indicated the local flora was abundant in those.

Taking a look at her more immediate surroundings, she could see all the flora was big, to the point she felt like an insect compared to it. At least there seem to be no fauna around, or she would fear being eaten by giant toads or something.

**Play Affectionate Moment – Radiant Historia OST**

"Howdy Uzume-chan!"

"Naruto-kun!" glancing to one of the big leaves to her right, she saw her blond friend waving at her before leaping down to face her. Both of their clothes were the same ones they had been wearing today. Which just reminded her how good he looked on those and had her ogling him shamelessly.

"So, what'cha doing in my dreams Uzume-chan? I doubt you just wanted to perv on me right?" noticing the way she seemed to avoid his gaze at that statement brough the prankster in him delight.

"Wait a second, you know we're in a dream too?!" Ignoring the weird setting, she knew why she was contacting him in their now shared dream, she was just surprised he seemed so nonchalant about it seeing he was ignorant on most Sekirei things.

"Obviously, it's not as if I dream of Mount Myōboku all the time you know? Though this is the first time I dream about you Uzume-chan, weird combination!" Uzume just wanted to facepalm at this, he had actually been to this place in the real world? _'What the hell Naruto-kun, this is not normal you know?!'_

"So what's this about? You're definitely not a dream version of Uzume-chan, normally all the girls I dream about come with a big bowl of ramen." He had actually been punched in the face for that one by the angry and confused Sekirei.

"Seriously?! That's how you know I'm not a dream?! And what do you mean you've dreamed of other girls and not me!"

Utterly lost and rubbing his face from the punch (and surprised that was not enough to wake him up) he could only groan, "Uzume-chan, you know you're basically asking me to perv on you right?"

"Damn right I am!" it wouldn't be after she shouted such a thing that she noticed what she had been doing and gaped, Naruto doing the same. Moments later, both started laughing while leaning on each other at the ridiculousness of all.

After a few more laughs, both were now resting on one of the giant leaves, still leaning on each other, "So, mind explaining?"

"Well, contact via dreams is one of the ways that reacting Sekirei reach out to their Ashikabis, this works by-"

"Wait, so you're a Sekirei?!"

"Really? That's what surprises you Naruto?! Have you not noticed that most if not all the beautiful women you have met since arriving are Sekirei?" Uzume wanted to facepalm so hard right now, but she was still pretty comfy leaning on the blond to do so.

"I've met prettier women so nah." He missed Uzume's eye twitch at his statement. "Also, if we go by that, Miya-chan would be a Sekirei too! Maybe Chiho-chan too, she's rather cute after all." Nodding at his own logic, he missed Uzume's pale face before the busty Sekirei faked laughing and agreeing with the blond _'If Miya's cover was blown up by me messing up, she would have my head!'_ how come he always controlled the flow of their conversations so easily?

"Let's be serious for a second. Do you get what this means Naruto?" He was curious on why she had stopped using honorifics, but didn't mind.

"That you're reacting to me? What's the big deal?" Now that got Uzume to facepalm, and after that she just stood up from her previous position, nearly growling at the blond's reaction.

"I didn't want to react to you dimwit, that's what's wrong! Chiho was supposed to be my Ashikabi but ever since you arrived I've stopped reacting to her! I never met her in dreams like I'm doing with you, so it's obvious my reaction to you is stronger!" With each statement, the girl poked the blond's chest harshly in her annoyance, before looking to the side and blushing, "But I also think I really like you now…"

While that actually got a blush from him, Naruto tried to stay calm, "I… I like you a lot too Uzume-chan, but I still fail to see your point. Why not just choose between us two the one you like the most as your Ashikabi? Sounds easy to me, Kaho did it pretty fast too."

"What do you mean she chose her Ashikabi?" seconds later, she finally caught on the first part of what he had said, shock at the latter part had being her immediate reaction, "…you like me?" she was sure she was blushing the brightest red possible which annoyed her a bit, how come he was just blushing a bit at her confession and she was a total mess?

"Just like it sounds. She was reacting to someone else, then Kaho-chan decided she wanted me to be her Ashikabi and forced a reaction to me. Why are you so conflicted on this though? Both of you act as if you were conditioned to think a reaction was absolute or something…" staring at the bright sky of their shared dreamscape to relax, he missed the expression on Uzume's face.

'_It's not… absolute?'_ She had been killing herself in doubt all day, and now he was just telling her it was unneeded? _'But everything we were taught showed it was something absolute!'_ Then again, Naruto had never lied to her. At this point in time, his word was leagues above any MBI scientist in her mind.

"Explain."

"I honestly have no idea how it works, I just know it does." Feeling Uzume start cracking her knuckles, he sweatdropped at how she was so bipolar at times. "Look, as far as I know, if you Sekirei don't know how the bond works, why are you putting all your faith on humans that don't even experience it? Now that's silly, just do what makes you the happiest." Seriously, it confused him to no end how both Sekirei he had met so far thought their own bond worked. Hopefully he wouldn't have to repeat this to every Sekirei he met.

'_That… actually makes sense.'_ It always surprised her whenever Naruto had one of his brilliant moments, where he just didn't match his goofy personality with the wisdom of his words. Shaking her head, she could only smile softly at her best male friend slash love interest. "If I don't choose you… will that change things between us?" To be honest, she was nearly sure of her decision by now, but she just wanted to hear confirmation of what she knew of the blond.

"Well, besides being able to kiss you and all the boyfriend privileges I would be missing, I don't see why things would change. Though losing to a girl is something that I guess will hurt my pride… now that I think about it, why are we even discussing this? I'm Kaho-chan's Ashikabi you know? I can't be yours too."

Leave it to Naruto to switch from serious to dumb to serious again in an instant.

Uzume could only laugh at that, so unpredictable! "So no one told one of the main pulls of the Sekirei plan?" taking advantage of his position on the leaf, she draped herself over the blond, straddling him in such a way he could feel her curves in full detail, "Silly Naruto-kun, worrying about useless things like that, we Sekirei are creatures of love… it knows no bounds. We don't mind sharing at all…" nibbling his ear, she separated a bit from the now unconscious blond, smirking at the trace of blood from his nose.

'_That'll teach him, I've got the lead on pranks again!'_ snuggling in his surprisingly lean and toned body, she fell asleep after a few minutes. Now that most of the doubt and worries in her heart were gone, tomorrow promised to be a good day.

A while after Uzume fell asleep, Naruto recovered and stared at their position with a blush, noticing the small smile on his friend's face. Letting a nostalgic smile out, he lowered his face to give Uzume a small kiss on her forehead. "Thank you. I thought I would never be able to visit this place again… you don't how much this means to me, you silly girl." He knew it was a dream, but if he wished it enough, the place would feel just as the original right? _'Thank the holy ramen for not messing up, this romantic stuff is hard… I just hope the sharing part was not a lie just in case, Kaho-chan looked really jealous of Uzume.'_

Elsewhere, two women were observing from different places the two friends, one gushing about how romantic that was while floating on the air in full joy. The other wondered from her place in the shadows whether this was just a really good hallucination or a dream to reach out to her Ashikabi. After all, said dreams were supposed to involve only the Ashikabi and one Sekirei, not more right?

* * *

><p><strong>Was tempted to cut this chapter in two but felt lazy. Also, how come Orihiko (Kaho's canon Ashikabi) is one of the option when choosing characters to tag but we don't get Kaho as an option? That's dumb.<strong>


End file.
